All the rules are written in the first post of this topic.
Well, I've made multiple threads which have hundreds of replies about gambling, economics, sports etc yet only have 5 merits.
I only registered my account three weeks ago so maybe I'm being too hasty.
Mate you can not use the replies of your topic as an measurement of merits you receive as we all know not all topics has a hundreds of replies belongs to a quality thread that deserve merits. And if you want to rank up or let say earn merits then you must be true to yourself stop counting your earned merits .and start making a good replies and a useful thread so that other members will see your post and then give you merits if they liked.